BAY AREA ARTS THEATRE

VIRTUAL EDITION

July 11, 2020

1 PM - 5 PM Saturday

642 1st Street, Rodeo, CA

Raised in Hunter's Point at the dawn of the Black Power movement in the San Francisco Bay Area, Lonnie Green was born at St. Mary's Hospital in the Fillmore District in 1967 and would become the beneficiary of the Hunter’s Point/Bayview Free Breakfast Program, where he learned firsthand at a young age what it meant to be Black and proud. It was soon discovered that his upbringing in a family of musicians made him a powerful "mover" to the music of his generation. Influenced by the legacies of the civil rights leaders of his time, “Lil Lonnie” grew up with the dream of becoming a social revolutionary himself… however, he would be handicapped with dyslexia, a learning disability that prevented him from being able to read, write or spell. This inevitably caused him to rely on different aspects of language in order to become the influential leader for his people that he envisioned.

In 1978, an eleven year-old Lonnie Green moved back to the Fillmore District, where he was first exposed to the culture of “Fillmore Strutting” by his cousin who went by the name “3D Kid” in a group called Bam Bam & Company. Strutting is a derivative of the 1960’s Boogaloo style of dance popular in Oakland which combined synchronized fluid & robotic movements and poses in group routines set to funk music. Strutting evolved out of San Francisco residents creating group routines to 1970’s funk/soul/electro records played on 33 and 45 speed. After experiencing a loss at his first talent show, Lonnie was determined that he would never let that happen again, so when he wasn’t at school he was developing techniques in his bedroom until he could move sharp enough to take on anyone that dared to challenge him. His attitude and personality gained him notoriety and the streets eventually embraced him after his second dance group, The Magicians, defeated A-list group member Monte of Monte & the Mechanical Midgets and more.

This win caught the eye of Deborah Johnson, founder of Granny & Robotroid, Inc., a Robot, Boogaloo and Strutting group founded in 1975 that won The Gong Show in 1977.  “Granny” took Lonnie under her wing and began to share the closely guarded "stepping" secrets of Granny & Robotroid’s style, which is when Lonnie asked if he could adopt the street name “Fillmore Kid” from one of the most revered shot-callers in the neighborhood. Deborah told Lonnie that she saw him alone as one to be counted upon to preserve Strutting culture for future generations: a charge he personally took to heart at the early age of 12. From that point, his career took off and he was trained by members of each of San Francisco’s legendary groups from Live, Inc. and Close Encounters of the Funkiest Kind to Diabolical Soldiers and Demons of the Mind who, along with his own group P-T 3000, would cement his legacy as one of the baddest Strutters the Fillmore District had ever seen. To this day, Lonnie Green is one of the only SF Strutters to have consistently remained both active and relevant in the world of dance for the last 40 years.

When Hip Hop hit the West Coast in the early 1980’s, Lonnie Green evolved into “PopTart”, a professional choreographer and Hip Hop dancer who was also began serving as cultural ambassador for San Francisco when he became the first dancer to leave Fillmore and share Strutting culture internationally, first in Canada and later throughout Europe and Asia. Lonnie Green successfully adapted to the music industry’s trends and also set the tone for professional dancers in the Hip Hop music industry by keeping his native Strutting roots unchanged from the teachings of his elders. His work has always been his way of giving back to the city and culture that raised him.

“Hip Hop” has since become a term universally associated with the emergence of urban creative expression in the 1970’s, a narrative that is now studied in colleges and universities around the world. Most scholars recognize Hip Hop as a New York narrative. Far-less understood in academia and industry yet equally relevant is the under-written story of the Fillmore, the largest example of failed urban renewal on the West Coast. Just like the South Bronx, this also created inner-city Black dance cultural expressions that would inform and influence entire generations across the globe.

The regional "funk styles" of B-R-S from the San Francisco Bay Area represent the communities that developed on the West Coast years before Hip Hop hit national media. BRS dancers can be officially traced as far back as 1967 and were entirely left alone by the mainstream media and film industries in the 1980's because of the uncompromising nature of the dance’s strong cultural ties to the Black Power movement of the 1960's.

As films like "Breakin" and "Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo" took the mainstream by storm, the uninformed public began calling the BRS styles "Hip Hop dance" and its origin story was eclipsed by Hollywood adopting the urban narrative of the South Bronx, which left out the historical facts of the Bay Area's inner-city Black dance culture that had already influenced an entire generation of Hip Hop dancers, poppers, and Pop stars.

For an entire week leading up to the SF Juneteenth Parade & Festival, one of the Fillmore's most beloved dance icons and public figure, co-founder of BRS Arts Alliance, CEO of Tart Productions and founder of The Strutter's Room, international pioneer and A-list Strutter Lonnie "The Fillmore Kid" Green a.k.a. PopTart, hosts The 2020 Annual International Strutter's Room Master Camp for dancers ever year all over the world looking to absorb this information directly from the source - in the very community that pioneered the 1970's style of dance that can only be called one thing: Strutting.

Join us as we celebrate Ben James Birthday! (Founder of Live Inc 1975)

A True Bay Area Dance Icon! Saturday August 24, 20199PM - 12AM

Emporium SF616 Divisadero St, San Francisco, CA 94117

Black Suit Jacket Event!

San Francisco invites you to experience the undocumented inner-city Black dance culture of 1970s Fillmore Strutting.

2020 Master Camp Price: $700
2019 Master Camp Price: $350
2019 Master Camp Early Bird Special (Before June 1st): $175
2019 AAACC Student Special (Reserved through AAACC): $75

Before it was called "Popping" and before it was considered "Pop", the inner-cities of Oakland, Richmond and San Francisco were home to a regional street culture with unique dance expressions known as Boogaloo, Robottin and Struttin. With the competitive nature emerging out of the 1960's and dominating Bay Area dance scene throughout the 1970's, these "BRS" funk styles were positive outlets of urban expression that served as an alternative to street activity, much like the East Coast equivalent of breakdancing.

San Francisco's Fillmore Strutting tradition can be documented as far back as 1975, with groups such as Granny & the Robotroids, Live Incorporated, Monty and the Mechanical Midgets, and Close Encounters of the Funkiest Kind. Similar to Boogaloo & Robottin, Strutting culture was never adequately explored by mainstream media because its community ties would not easily compromise its traditional values to align with corporate interests. The BRS story of origin would soon be overshadowed in the 1980's by the emerging "Hip Hop" urban narrative of street dance out of New York, leaving the untold history of the Bay Area inner-city Black dance expression that came to influence an entire generation of Hip Hop dancers and "poppers" largely unknown to the general public.

For the entire week of leading up to the Juneteenth Festival, one of the Fillmore's most beloved public figures, co-founder of BRS Arts Alliance and founder of The Strutter's Room, international Hip Hop dance icon and A-list Strutter Lonnie "The Fillmore Kid" Green a.k.a. PopTart, opens the doors to the African American Art & Culture Complex with the 2019 Annual International Strutter's Room Master Camp for dancers all over the world who are looking to get their information directly from the source - the SF community that pioneered the 1970's style of dance that can only be called one thing: Strutting.

CREATURE MAN & BENZO PRESENTS:

Grown Folks Back to the 70's & 80's Party

Friday March 29th

Doors open at 8pm

9pm to 2am

Featuring DIS-JOCKEY

DR. FUNK

$15 in advance

$20 at the door

1st place $250 Soultrain Dance Contest

@FILLMORE HERITAGE CENTER

1330 FILLMORE ST

21+ 70'S & 80'S Formal Attire Required

www.FillmoreHeritageCenter.org

For Tickets: www.eventbrite.com

With great honor & respect, we are extremely excited to present the legendary, an OG and pioneer of San Francisco Strutting:

Lonnie “Pop Tart” Green

Pop Tart will be teaching a 3 hour Strutter’s Room Camp during the conference; Friday, April 26th. 2pm - 5pm at New Expressive Works. There he will select 4 dancers to join him for a special performance during The Book of Styles competition the next day! Don’t miss that opportunity!

He will also be doing a Q&A discussion panel, which will be recorded live and released on the Thread Count Podcast platform. Come pick the OG’s brain!

Party | Preserve | Educate

A Black History Month Cultural Festival Experience

February 23, 2019

10AM The Strutters Room Film

11AM B-R-S Film

12PM P-T 3000 Film

1PM Open Dance Cyper

2PM BRS Dance Workshop

4pm Extreme Popping Dance Battle

7pm Strutter's Room Funk Concert

All Day Access Pre-Sale Pass $25

The Fillmore Heritage Center

1330 Fillmore St, San Francisco, CA, 94115

Struttin Dance Workshop  by Lonnie Green AKA The Fillmore Kid

40 Year International Iconic Master Teacher From the Inner City Black Dance Culture

January 19th 2019 1pm

Meet & Greet

Press Hearing

Photos & Signing

All Styles Cypher

More Info: 415.255.7745